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A new National Food Plan — backing the case to farm more of Australia’s north — is something Barnaby Joyce and Bob Katter have long called for. Emil Jeyaratnam speaks to them in Canberra.

A report on the level of foreign ownership in our food industry produced some inconvenient facts for food security hysterics.

Will 2012 see an improvement in the quality of public debate? Don’t count on it.

As controversy bubbles over the latest big local farmland buy-up and what it means for food production, it’s worth looking to see where these foreign raiders are coming from, who’s backing them and how other countries are tightening regulations to stop them.

New greenhouse data shows that even with the GFC and some one-off factors holding down emissions, Australia will miss its 5% carbon reduction target by 2020.

We’ve heard this all before. “Strategic industries” and “industry plans” are invariably code for taxpayer support.

Genetically modified crops are a tricky topic. They have the potential to solve world food shortage issues, yet they also could create massive super weeds and potential health problems. Should we be worried?

The idea of developing a bounteous “food bowl” that could ensure Australia’s food security long into the future has been a recurring political dream. But like most dreams, they usually get mugged by the grim realities of science and economics.

An investigation by the Associated Press reveals how agricultural giant Monsanto uses its stranglehold on the seed industry to push out smaller competitors and control the world’s food supply. Expect food to get even more expensive.

A genetically modified variety of corn remains approved for use in Australia, despite the withdrawal of applications for approval in Europe and serious concerns about its assessment raised by a New Zealand university research team.

So Malcolm Turnbull has convinced the Coalition to push amendments on the Government’s CPRS. But what is it that the Liberals want?

Take a journey into the secret world of the mushroom lovers sub-culture, where they’re not gatherers, but hunters, and get a whole new appreciation for the humble funghi.

Queensland’s Surat Basin has the third largest energy resource in the world but farm groups are warning that mining areas risk catastrophic environmental damage to food-producing areas, reports Amanda Gearing.

Years of drought sweeping across Kenya’s plains have placed the country at a critical stage. Four million Kenyans are on food aid, yet a blotched government plan has resulted in hundreds of dead cattle.

By 2050, the world will have nine billion people to feed, and increasingly less land to do it with. Popular Science looks at eight potential farming innovations — from genetically engineered rice to robot farmers — to help stop world hunger and feed a growing world’s appetite.

Oil-rich but agriculture-poor Middle Eastern countries are leasing land in developing nations like Cambodia, Vietnam and Sudan to shore up their food supply, but critics claim the deals are just a form of neo-colonialism.